BACKGROUND As per NFHS-4 data under 5 mortality in India is 50 and infant mortality rate is 41. Globally, neonatal deaths account for 41% of mortality in children under 5 years of age, rate that has been increasing over recent years. Hypothermia is an important cause of death in low birth weight (LBW) babies. 1 Neonatal hypothermia, defined as an abnormally low body temperature of under 36.5*C is a risk factor for newborn survival. The essential care of LBW includes maintenance of warmth to prevent hypothermia. Hypothermia is considered as a silent killer. 2 Infants born small or prematurely are recognized as needing more intense thermal protection. 3 Apart from intrinsic problems in LBW neonate, the thermal control in them is greatly influenced by knowledge and practice of caregivers specifically mother. 4 Objective-While hypothermia has long been recognized as a potential threat to newborn survival in resource-limited settings, it has not received sufficient attention. So there is a need of assessing the knowledge of mothers of LBW babies on prevention of hypothermia and to provide them the knowledge of cost effective thermal protection measures. A very few studies have been made in our institution SNCU which caters a good number of LBW neonate from south Odisha. MATERIALS AND METHODS It is a cross-sectional study using pre-tested, pre-structured questionnaire. 54 mothers having LBW babies admitted to SNCU of MKCG Medical College were included in study. Descriptive analytical statistics applied. RESULTS Out of 54 mothers 57% were from rural area, residing in nuclear family were 59%. Mothers attended hospital for confinement were 95% and 85% started breast feeding their babies. Only 44% had knowledge of keeping the baby warm by immediately wiping the baby. But no mother had knowledge of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC). CONCLUSION However, simple strategies such as skin-to-skin care are not consistently practiced by many of mothers. Mothers still need more knowledge to prevent the baby from heat loss.

BACKGROUNDSickle Cell Disease (SCD) poses a considerable health burden in India. The sickle gene is widespread among many tribal population groups in India with prevalence of heterozygotes varying from 1-40 percent). The disease has multiple acute and chronic complications, including haemolytic crises, severe pain, renal complications, thromboembolic phenomenon and overwhelming infections; some complications of SCD generate high mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODSThis is a cross-sectional, hospital inpatient based, observational study. Convenience sampling technique was used to include 74 consecutively diagnosed cases of sickle cell disease children less than 14 years of age and suffering from fever. A blood culture was performed in each case prior to starting of antibiotics. RESULTSThe present study comprised of 74 children with confirmed sickle cell disease admitted to ward with fever. The largest numbers of cases were between 1 to 3 years age group. Febrile episodes decreased as the age advanced. Around 30% of febrile patients presented with cough followed by 24% with pain in limbs. Anaemia was the most common physical finding (92%) followed by splenomegaly in 86% cases. URTI being most common aetiology. Most common organism isolated by blood culture was Staph. aureus in 8 samples. CONCLUSIONAs because fever is a consistent finding in severe bacterial infections, extensive evaluation, early intervention in febrile SCD children may reduce the morbidity and mortality rates. Although, the greatest concern has traditionally been S. pneumoniae, effective vaccination has reduced its incidence. It is probably wise to treat all highly febrile children with sickle cell disease with antibiotics pending the results of blood culture. Strengthening of routine immunisation programme is needed.

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Childhood asthma represents a significant burden, not only in terms of morbidity and reduced quality of life but also in terms of healthcare costs, as reflected by the high rates of unscheduled emergency department visits, hospitalization, and school absenteeism. Parents play a key link in asthma management and adherence to treatment regimen in the early years of childhood before children can manage their asthma independently. However, some parents have misconceptions regarding asthma and its medication, which could in turn influence children’s control of asthma.To find out the effect of parental beliefs and practices with respect to their knowledge about etiology, folk beliefs, home remedies, alternative therapies, etiology and pharmacotherapy in childhood asthma influence the pharmacotherapy and outcome of asthma management.The hospital based cross sectional study was carried out on a convenience sample of 82 parents of children, 5-14 years of age and clinically diagnosed with asthma of any form in the Department of Pediatrics, F.M. Medical College & Hospital, a tertiary care teaching hospital in Balasore town in the eastern part of India. The parents’ beliefs and practices were captured with the help of a pre-designed and validated questionnaire. Descriptive analytical statictics was used to analyse the demographic data. Chi square test was used to find out the association of beliefs, use of home remedies, folk beliefs and alternative therapies and the use of prescribed asthma medications as per standard reference. GraphPad Prism free trial version 7.0 was used for statistical analysis. Statistical significance was taken at a level of p ≤ 0.05.Majority of the children were in the age group of 10-14 years with a male predominance. Most of the primary care givers less than 40 years age and literate, 30 (36.6%) having more than two children and a family history of asthma. The common beliefs were that asthma was chest allergy, of hereditary origin. Exposure to dust, indoor smoke believed to be a significant potential triggering factor for asthma attack The participants (68.2%) believed that inhaled steroids had more side effects lead to dependency also believed using inhaler only when serious. Domiciliary treatment was preferred. 𝛽-agonist were the commonest medications.Parental beliefs and practices have a predominant role in the management of asthma in children. In order to enhance the level of perceptions among caregivers, education should include knowledge about asthma and its management, as there might be misperceptions about the use of inhalers and the safety of inhaled corticosteroids.

SSPE is a chronic complication of measles with a delayed onset and nearly fatal outcome. This “slow virus infection” results from a persistent infection with an altered measles virus, that is harboured intracellularly in the CNS. Patients usually presents with cognitive decline and myoclonus but atypical presentations are also quite common. Our case is of a 9 year old male child , previously neurodevelopmentally normal, presented with 4 months history of frequent fall due to jerky movements of the left upper and lower limbs which progresses to involve left half of the body, reduced attention span, cognitive decline and loss of speech. During hospitalisation, despite treatment with antibiotics , steroids , and antiepileptics ,disease progressed with myoclonic jerks , altered sensorium and nally child became comatose. CSF study is normal but MRI and EEG shows abnormalities. Based on clinical features and history of exanthematous illness at 6 months of age, measles igG antibody titres in CSF were tested , which came to be highly elevated conrming SSPE.